Ariel Sharon Buried at Negev Ranch Following Knesset Ceremony

Amid tight security, Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, 85, was buried on Monday on Anemone Hill, in a plot next to his wife, Lily, on the grounds of his 1,000-acre Sycamore Farm, in the Western Negev, at a state funeral attended by two dozen foreign dignitaries.

Some 800 Israeli police were on hand and two Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries were deployed, according to police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. Earlier on Monday, two rockets were launched, but failed to leave Gazan airspace, according to IDF spokesman Peter Lerner.

The funeral followed a memorial ceremony at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, and a ceremony for the Israel Defense Forces General Staff at Latrun Junction, in the hills west of the capital, where Sharon fought and was almost killed, after being shot in the abdomen, in the 1948 War of Independence, the Times of Israel reported.

At Sycamore Farm, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former UK Prime Minister and UN Mideast Envoy Tony Blair were among the foreign leaders who attended the funeral, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, Israeli President Shimon Peres, and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.

Biden said, “The security of his people was always Arik’s unwavering mission – a non-breakable commitment to the future of Jews, whether 30 years or 300 years from now,” according to the Daily Mail. ”History will judge that he also lived in complex times, in a very complex neighborhood,” he added.

Blair said Ariel Sharon was “a giant of this land” who had the “idea that the Jewish people, so often victims of injustice and persecution, should have a state where they could be independent and free,” adding, “Think good or ill of Arik Sharon, agree or disagree with him, but that calling – a noble one – was plain and unalloyed.”

Netanyahu said, “Arik understood that in matters of our existence and security, we must stand firm. Israel will continue to fight terror. Israel will continue to strive for peace, while protecting our security. Israel will act in every way to deny Iran the capability of arming itself with nuclear weapons.”

“Ariel Sharon will go down in history as one of Israel’s greatest military leaders and one of the greatest fighters for the people of Israel in their land,” Netanyahu said.

In his eulogy, Peres, the only surviving Israeli leader who served in the 1948 War of Independence, said, “We are accompanying to his final resting place today, a soldier, an exceptional soldier, a commander who knew how to win.”

Sharon died on Saturday, after suffering a stroke eight years ago and never awakening from a coma.

Rashi in Parashas Vayeitzei tells us that when a tzaddik dwells in a town, he is its glory, its beauty, its grandeur.

Naflah ateres rosheinu—the crown of our heads has fallen. One of the tzaddikim of the Five Towns/Far Rockaway community, Rav Ahron Brafman, zt’l, was definitely all of that and more. He was a tzaddik in every sense of the word.

The Five Towns/Far Rockaway community is a different place now that he has passed away. It is a community that was visibly changed by his presence here for close to five decades.

He was one of those rare individuals who combined profound erudition in his Torah knowledge, deep humility in his character and deportment, and a heart whose remarkable compassion for others knew no bounds.

Even as a young man, he had a warmth that was unbelievable. Reb Ahron would be welcoming to other young men—even as a student. Rav Yeruchem Olshin, shlita, one of the four roshei yeshiva of Beis Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, fondly remembers Rav Ahron being mekarev him at Yeshiva Torah Vodaath:

At YFR Kinus Teshuvah: Michael Spiegel, host; Rabbi Yechiel Perr, rosh ha’yeshiva;and Rabbi Ahron Brafman, menahel“Rav Ahron was a special person. This is a tremendous loss. He had a ruach taharah. He was such a warm person. I was learning in a different yeshiva in Boro Park and that yeshiva unfortunately closed, so I transferred to yeshiva Torah Vodaath, and I knew no one. Rav Ahron befriended me and took good care of me. Over the years, I kept up with him. Rav Ahron was a tremendous talmid chacham with vast and broad yedios. He has a teyereh mishpacha. I was zocheh to be the shadchan of one of his daughters. I am close with his son and his other aidim (sons-in-law).”

Rabbi Yechiel Perr, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Derech Ayson–Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, spoke at the funeral in Eretz Yisrael. He spoke of Rabbi Brafman’s genuineness of character, saying that he had no airs and no “shtik.”

Menashe is a good and simple man. But even according to his fictional family members, while he might be a pious man, he is first and foremost a “schlemazal.”

The new film Menashe is showing in movie theaters in or near Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, as well as the Malverne Theater in nearby Malverne, New York, a short distance from the Five Towns.

The first matter of interest is why this film was made in the first place. It is certainly a fascinating look into an otherwise private and insulated community that does not necessarily appreciate having the light of day cast on the intimate details of its everyday routines.

Menashe is just an average chassidic man who lives simply, dresses in traditional chassidic garb (white shirt, black vest, etc.), and is dealing with everyday struggles that many people deal with regardless of how they identify in terms of religion or any other type of lifestyle affiliation. That he is a chassidic man is an eye-opener of sorts, as the suspicion might exist that worldly problems have not yet figured out a way to penetrate our community. They certainly have.

Menashe is a widower; his wife apparently passed away at a young age. They had one child who in the movie is now about ten years old. The child’s rebbe believes the boy should live with his wife’s brother and his family because of the more conventional family structure. Balance of this essay can be read at 5TJT.COM ... See MoreSee Less